Inside Out - Sadness

Introduction

Now that we’ve finished our sermon series, The Journey, which took us through the Bible, we thought it would be a nice change of pace to do a topical series. Since we’re doing Emotionally Healthy Relationships, we wanted to look at emotions. The pandemic has also brought out a lot of emotions, so that adds extra relevance.

We have taken the Pixar movie Inside Out, as a framework for our series. It presents the emotions of a young girl who has just left behind her life on the East Coast of the USA and moved with her family to San Francisco. As well as being a fun movie, Inside Out teaches the importance of our emotions in a healthy life. I believe the Bible teaches that, too.

Let’s start by looking at one of the main emotions in the movie, and in life: Sadness. Let’s see how Inside Out portrays sadness first.

Video

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Our Experience

Now, I’m sure that all of us have something to say about sadness, too.

My own experiences with sadness are all centred around loss. The loss of my childhood home when I moved away to Uni. The loss of friends and lifestyle when I moved country several times. The loss of a church home. The most intense sadness has always come when I’ve lost people, even if I have only lost them temporarily. I remember saying goodbye to Mable at the end of her time in Japan and being surprised at the overwhelming sadness I felt. That sadness made me aware of a deeper feeling, and eventually led to our marriage.

Grief in the Scriptures

The Bible doesn’t have much to say about sadness, as such. Rather, it tends to focus on sorrow that is the result of something: grief, sorrowful regret, agony, suffering, and pain. The amorphous, and perhaps rather gentle feeling of sadness is barely present in the Scriptures. In its place, we find sharp agony, deep grief, aching sorrow. But sadness includes all of this, of course, so let’s see what the Bible says about a feeling like grief, which is a very common topic in the Scriptures.

The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible traces grief through the Scriptures:

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Grief

The concept is found in the Scriptures under a variety of circumstances. Isaac and Rebekah experienced grief when their son Esau married a Hittite woman (Gn 26:35 KJV). God mourned the misery of Israel brought upon them by disobedience (Jgs 10:16 KJV). Hannah was so sad because she had no son that she appeared to be drunk while praying (1 Sm 1:16 KJV). Similarly, Samuel, distraught at King Saul’s disobedience, prayed all night. Job was exceedingly sorrowful over his personal loss (Jb 2:13; cf. 6:2; 16:6), and the psalmist poetically demonstrated distress and sorrow (cf. Pss 6:7; 31:9, 10; 69:26 KJV; 73:21 KJV; 95:10 KJV; 112:10 KJV). The Book of Lamentations is devoted to the expression of grief, and the prophets in general speak of judgment because Israel had grieved a holy God.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology talks about how God himself suffers deep grief:

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology Grief, Grieving

Grief, Grieving. Scripture often speaks of God as being grieved or experiencing grief. This holds true for each member of the Trinity. In Genesis 6:6–8 the Father is grieved because of the sinfulness of the human race. The disobedience of Israel and the church grieves the Holy Spirit (Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30). The Son of God is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3–10; Matt. 23:37–39; Luke 13:34–35; John 11:35).

The Bible often expresses the things of God in human form or with human feelings in order to accommodate our limited understanding. Yet with regard to grief and grieving, the Scriptures are not simply explaining a divine action in human terms. Rather, the subject of divine grief addresses the very essence of God as a person and the image of God in all persons. The grief of God testifies to that dynamic, living relationship that exists between God and humankind. Right as Aristotle was in many ways, God is not an “Unmoved Mover.”

If it is not clear already, let me speak very plainly: grief, and so sadness, is not wrong. God himself grieves! The heroes of God’s salvation plan all wrestle with grief, even Jesus is overcome with sorrow several times.

But at the same time, sadness is not what God desires for us. In fact, Jesus’ mission on earth will ultimately remove all sadness from our hearts, as we heard last week in Revelations 21.

Revelation 21:4 ESV

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

By conquering sin, and turning our hearts back to God, Jesus removes the root cause of all sadness.

In the mean time

But, as we said last week, we are not there yet. Until Jesus comes again to do away with all wickedness, sadness and grief will remain a genuine part of our experience. Paul recognised this powerfully in

Romans 8:18–25 ESV

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The whole of creation grieves with us! Everything in this world is tinged with sorrow.

What is emotion for?

A child might ask: why? Why do we feel this emotional pain? Why can’t we just rationally recognise that reality doesn’t always work the way we hope and move on? (OK, maybe a child wouldn’t ask that last question. But it’s a question worth asking.)

God has given us emotions for a reason: when they are functioning properly, they allow us to connect immediately with the world around us. Before we can even begin to figure out the complexities of a situation, we are already responding emotionally to it. We feel fear in the presence of danger, anger in the presence of injustice, disgust in the presence of corruption, sadness in the presence of loss, and joy in the presence of goodness.

Of course, emotions are more complex than just those simple formulas, and they can also go wrong. For example, depression, where deep sadness overwhelms us, often has no legitimate cause. But, imagine if we abandoned all reason simply because we found that sometimes we reason badly! That would be foolish, right? In the same way, ignoring your emotions just because they can sometimes go wrong is equally foolish.

So I want to present three reasons why you should embrace sadness.

Three reasons

1. Sadness is an appropriate response to a broken world

The first reason it is important to embrace sadness when appropriate, is because this is a broken world. This is why God was grieved in Gen 6:

Genesis 6:5–6 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

This is also why Jesus was grieved. In

John 11:33–35 ESV

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.

As we read in Romans, the whole of creation is groaning together. It is possible, of course, to be isolated from the suffering and pain of the world. There is a story that twenty-five hundred years ago there was a young prince born in what is now Nepal. His father was given a prophecy that the boy would “retire from the world” when he saw four signs: a decrepit old man, a diseased man, a dead man, and a monk. As a result, his father surrounded the young prince with luxury, youth and health. But, like all young men, this one escaped the luxurious palace, and encountered those four sites. Realising the impermanence of material things, this young man became a monk, and ultimately Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

Christianity handles suffering very differently from Buddhism, but they both agree that this world is full of pain and death. Buddhism recommends withdrawing from all attachments with the world as a means to escape it. Christianity chooses a very different option: to engage with the world expressing both sadness and hope. Sadness for the state of the world, but hope in its redemption.

So sadness is the appropriate response to the brokenness of this world. When we see corruption and injustice, it should grieve us. When we see death, we should mourn. When we see sickness, we should weep.

2. The suffering of others should make us sad

The second reason it is important to embrace sadness is very closely related to the first: we should be sad when we see others suffer.

You see, unlike Buddhism, Christianity does not tell us to give up our love for others. In fact, Christianity demands that we love others, just as much as we love ourselves. But this exposes us to great pain and sadness.

Paul’s brokenhearted cry about his fellow Jews in Romans 9 is a powerful expression of this truth:

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

But it is not always so extreme. If we really love one another, we will be ready to mourn with a brother or sister over a lost job, a wayward child, or a missed opportunity. Paul, again in Romans advises:

Romans 12:15 ESV

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Now, this verse might seem to present some practical difficulties. What if you have just received a great job offer, and your brother or sister has just received news that their child has been expelled from school? There is a conflict here, right? In this sort of case, I think grief takes precedence. Your joy will endure for longer, and your brother or sister’s grief needs sharing as a part of their healing. So share the grief first, but then share the joy. Even in the midst of grief, when it is lovingly shared, a little second-hand joy will never go astray.

So the suffering of others should move us to sadness.

3. Sadness should motivate us towards good

Finally, sadness should motivate us towards good.

You see, God hasn’t given us emotions just to torture us! Emotions are intended to inform us about the nature of the world so that we can do something about it. Sadness tells us that there is something horribly broken in the world.

There are two responses to things being broken: trying to fix the symptoms, and trying to heal the problem. When someone abuses themselves in some way, you can heal their body, you can work with them on psychological coping techniques, you can train them to be resilient. But so often this will not prevent further self-harm. Their hearts are deeply broken, desperate for a genuine identity, love that sees them and still loves them.

Only God’s love can heal this broken world. And God has given us his love to share. We, the church, are meant to work on God’s great rescue plan, healing little pieces of the world, person by person.

So sadness should drive us to share God’s love.

What did Jesus do after he wept with Martha over the death of her brother Lazarus? He went to the tomb and raised Lazarus from the dead!

What does God do after the world grieves him? He lays down the life of his only Son, raises him again, and builds a new world, free of pain and suffering for those who desire to live there with Him.

Let our sadness then, lead us to love with God’s love.

Let us pray.